


One Call Away

by Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa)



Series: Eirlyssa's 2019 Bingo Fills [9]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Attempted Kidnapping, Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Protective Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark Bingo 2019, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, WinterIron Bingo 2019, Winteriron Week 2019, Wrong number
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 18:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20012608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eirlyssa/pseuds/Iron_Eirlyssa
Summary: When Tony notices he's being followed on his way home, he calls Rhodey to help him out. Except it turns out he didn't, not quite.





	One Call Away

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the following unidentified Tumblr prompt: “it’s the middle of the night and i’m walking home alone in the dark and there’s this guy following me and he’s starting to gain on me and I found this phone booth with a lock on the door and I tried to call my best friend but my hands were shaking so badly I accidentally dialed the wrong number and i don’t even know you but help me”
> 
> Fills square A1 - Dark Alleys for the Tony Stark Bingo; square O2 - Wrong Number for the WinterIron Bingo; square C2 - Protectiveness for the Bucky Barnes Bingo; and day 2 (completely out of order, I know… Sorry xD ) - College AU for the WinterIron Week.
> 
> My infinite thanks to the absolutely amazing [Ru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudearrow) for their willingness to talk to me _extensively_ about the United States Armed Forces and the possibilities for attending MIT/college.

His fingers were trembling so much that, for a few seconds, he was terrified that he’d gotten the number wrong and it wouldn’t connect at all. When the phone was picked up, Tony nearly whimpered with relief, not even waiting for his friend to start talking.

“Rhodey please, you have to help me - I know it’s so, so late and I’m _so_ sorry to wake you up but I only just remembered that I promised you I’d go back home to get some sleep and I was on my way, I swear, but there’s this guy following me and he was getting closer and he’s still there and please, _please_ can you come get me, because he’s freaking me out and _please_.”

Tony was nearly crying as he rambled out the address of the phone booth he’d managed to find, hoping his friend would be able to get there soon. Anyone else, he would have been embarrassed to sound so vulnerable, but Rhodey knew what had happened last spring and he’d never judged Tony for the moments he needed a little more assurance.

Except then there was a response, and it wasn’t Rhodey’s voice at all.

“We’ll be right there, don’t worry,” a gruff voice assured him.

And Tony wanted to panic. He wanted to apologize to this stranger whose wrong number he’d called. He wanted to hang up and retry to see if he could get Rhodey’s number right despite his shaking.

But he didn’t have nearly enough coins for that - the only ones he’d had left from the cash Rhodey had given him to get some lunch with (and that he’d used to get some more coffee instead) had been used to call this number instead. And from another direction there was another man approaching, meeting up with his initial pursuer as the two of them observed the very, very relative safety of the phone booth Tony had ensconced himself in and apparently discussing something.

Trying very hard not to whimper or start panicking, Tony could only hope that whoever he’d called was actually someone who could help him. “There’s two of them now,” he found himself confessing, heart in his throat.

“Damn,” came from the other end of the line, though whoever it was didn’t sound like he was rethinking his offer to help Tony. If anything, he sounded more determined. “We’ll be there soon, I promise.”

“Thank you,” Tony managed, throat closed up enough due to the tension that he wasn’t even sure it was audible.

From the other side of the line, he could hear a constant ramble of updates as not-Rhodey kept him informed of where he was and how much longer it was likely to take - apparently, he lived _very_ close by and he had a friend with him. It was the only thing keeping him calm as a generic white van drove up to where the men were talking as he pressed himself as far to the back of the phone booth as possible. Had he been a little less afraid, he might have scoffed at how ‘Kidnapping 101’ it all was.

As it were, though, there was a definite risk that they thought he might be calling the police, and he wasn’t sure how much longer they would wait to approach.

“It’s… there’s a van now, too,” he whispered, trying to keep breathing calmly. The last thing he needed now was for his heart to act up as well. “I’m not sure how long… if they’re gonna stay patient.”

“We’re nearly there,” his hopefully-rescuer assured him, and from his breathing it was obvious that he was running.

Which was hopefully true, because it looked like his pursuers had decided to get moving. Steeling himself as much as possible when on the verge of a panic attack, Tony watched as the three men, all taller and broader than he was, approached the phone booth that would offer very little protection if they got determined.

Time was up.

☙ ✆ ❧ 

Leaving his phone on in the middle of the night had been a long-standing habit from when Steve was still small and sickly and too stubborn to take it as easy as he should.

Everyone who knew Bucky was well-aware that his phone was on, and they shouldn’t call him in the middle of the night unless it was urgent. It also meant they had one person they could always call in case of a nightly emergency, and it was more than worth the few times he was called awake for no good reason.

Still half-asleep, Bucky had picked up before even thinking about the fact that none of his friends had anything planned, and he could hear Steve breathing from the couch across the room, where he’d decided to stay the night instead of going back to his dorm.

He was glad he had picked up, though, when he heard the panicked voice on the other side of the line. Although it was clear pretty soon that his caller had the wrong number, Bucky was not the kind of person who could stand by when someone needed help. And fortunately, neither was Steve.

“We’ll be right there, don’t worry,” he tried to comfort the person on the other side of the line, who sounded genuinely panicked. Then, pushing the mouthpiece to his shoulder, he turned to Steve, who had realized something was up and was already sitting up on the couch, looking disturbingly alert. “Someone needs help, right now - he was apparently being followed and is hiding out in a phone booth. And didn’t Wilson have a friend called Rhodey?”

While he wasn’t nearly as close to Wilson as Steve was - apparently, the two had met one another while working out and had bonded over Wilson’s volunteering at the VA and Steve’s worry about Bucky’s recovery. And while they hadn’t talked a lot and he still refused to visit the guy at the VA, Bucky was pretty sure he’d heard Wilson mention mentoring a Jim Rhodes (occasionally nicknamed ‘Rhodey’) before, which would be a very convenient coincidence.

“Ask Wilson to get him - I think his friend’s the one in trouble.”

By the time he and Steve were running out of Bucky’s brownstone, Wilson having been alerted and confirming that he’d go get his Air Force mentee to meet them at the payphone as soon as possible, his unknown caller informed him there were now _two_ people, sounding terrified.

If Bucky had harbored any doubts about whether this was genuine, the fear and shaky breathing would have convinced him. He cursed, running down the stairs two at a time. “We’ll be there soon, I promise.”

As he ran, followed closely by Steve, Bucky couldn’t help but wonder who this guy was that people were _actually_ planning on either kidnapping him or, at least, probably harm him. It was the kind of thing that happened in some sort of movie, not real life.

They were only a few streets off when the caller told him, voice no more than a whisper, that there was a van as well now. Trying to assure the guy that they were nearly there, Bucky just hoped they’d get there in time. The other was right when he wondered if they’d wait for much longer, especially with the possibility of help coming, and he forced himself into a sprint.

Behind him, he heard Steve speed up as well, always ready to have his back.

Turning the final corner, he was briefly afraid they were too late. But then he noticed the three guys, gathered around the phone booth as one was trying to yank the door open. “Hey! _Hey_!” he called, hoping it would keep them from forcing their way inside to his mystery caller.

It didn’t distract the guy trying to open the door, but the other two turned to him and Steve, looking wary and tensing quickly.

“Back off!” he yelled, not slowing down in the slightest.

Of course, it had occurred to him that actual kidnappers, planning to kidnap an actual person, would probably not take kindly to being interrupted. And even though he’d hoped the caller had just been a tad more paranoid than necessary, or that it would be more of a crime of opportunity, Bucky couldn’t say he was entirely surprised when one of them pulled out a knife.

“One chance, man,” the guy wielding the knife told him, attempting a friendly smile and failing miserably. “Just walk away.”

“Yeah, I think not,” Bucky told him, falling back into the mindset that had helped him through most of his enlistment. His breathing evened out as he absorbed his surroundings, noting any details that could end up making all the difference.

One of the other guys scoffed, sneering at him before flicking his eyes over where Bucky’s left arm should be. “What were _you_ planning to do, cripple?”

Which was, of course, the moment Steve was _done_. He still felt guilty that one of Bucky’s reasons for enlisting at 17 - the primary reason, actually - was the fact that it meant Steve could benefit from military healthcare. And while it had saved his best friend’s life, it had also cost Bucky his arm. On most days, it actually seemed like Steve took it even harder than Bucky did.

So Bucky was mostly resigned when Steve stepped up beside him, glaring at all three of the guys. “Whatever it takes,” he told them, jaw set stubbornly.

And then, they were fighting.

Even missing an arm, Bucky hadn’t forgotten how to fight. Even before joining the Army, he’d been an expert boxer, and his years of service had only improved his fighting skills. It felt almost natural, dodging to evade a hit and bringing himself close enough to get a punch of his own in. He could hear Steve taking on one of the other guys as well, which left one of them unaccounted.

Then a voice behind him that he’d only heard over the phone so far said “I don’t think so,” before he heard an unfamiliar grunt. Turning around, he realized that his mystery caller had come out now that he had some reinforcements, and that he’d attacked a guy that looked like he’d been sneaking up on Bucky.

He didn’t have a lot of time to look at how he apparently had _some_ sort of martial arts training, instead turning back to his own opponent, who had recovered and was now coming at Bucky again.

It soon became clear that he was winning. Then, he heard the guy Steve had been fighting curse. “Fall back. _Fall back_.”

Disengaging, the three of them ran for the van on the other side of the street, leaving Bucky with Steve and the guy who’d called him in the first place. He turned back to face the two of them, relieved, only to practically have his breath knocked out of him when he finally got a full look at his mysterious caller.

The guy was _gorgeous_. He looked vaguely familiar in a way Bucky couldn’t pinpoint and couldn’t bring himself to do more than file the thought away for later. Soft, fluffy dark brown hair framed expressive eyes that… Honestly, Bucky had never been much for poetry, but the guy’s eyes made him want to write a book’s worth of praise on them. Golden brown, the thought passed through his mind that he’d be able to look into those eyes for the rest of his life and not feel like he’d wasted a single second of it.

Tearing his eyes away from Gorgeous Guy’s, he also noted that he was shorter than Bucky and probably a little younger as well, though not a lot, which made sense if he was a student around here as well. He was slender, but besides having noticed the way he’d been fighting, Bucky also noted that he had some distinctive muscles as well.

Overall, the effect made Bucky feel incredibly torn between wanting to pull the guy into a protective hug, and wanting to pull the guy into a passionate kiss.

Then he smiled, and Bucky had to actively hold himself back from doing either. “Thank you so much for helping me out,” Gorgeous Guy said, eyes lingering on Bucky before shooting a quick smile at Steve as well.

Steve who, Bucky noticed, was shooting him a shit-eating grin. Really, his best friend knew him far too well, and it might honestly be better for Bucky’s sanity to just kill him.

With a quick glare at his friend, which he knew Steve wouldn’t believe was genuine for even a second, Bucky turned back to Gorgeous Guy. “Not a problem at all, really,” he assured him, relieved to find that he sounded pretty normal despite his instant crush at first sight. To someone who didn’t know him, his voice probably didn’t sound strange or slightly strangled at all. “Just glad we got here in time.”

“Same,” Gorgeous Guy breathed out fervently, and for the first time Bucky noticed the way his hands were trembling ever-so-slightly. No wonder, considering how terrifying the experience must’ve been for him. The smile, now that he was looking for it, was slightly tremulous as well, and Bucky _really_ shouldn’t be wondering how stunning he would look if he were to smile genuinely.

He didn’t need to wait long, though, since at that very moment there was a car stopping nearby.

The doors opened, revealing Wilson and another guy Bucky presumed to be ‘Rhodey’, who had eyes only for Gorgeous Guy as he quickly rushed towards where the three of them were standing. “Tony, are you alright?”

Of course, the moment he said that, Bucky realized why Gorgeous Guy had looked so familiar.

The guy who actually managed to be even more incredibly gorgeous when genuinely smiling, the guy Bucky would love to get to know better in a lot of ways, the guy he’d formed an instant crush on, was _Tony Stark_.

_Well,_ Bucky found himself thinking somewhat hysterically, _at least that explains the kidnapping attempt._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all very much for reading! I'm not sure if this will get a continuation yet - on the one hand, it's possible, on the other hand, _so much to write_. I'd be happy to hear if there's anything more you would like to see in this universe, though (or if there's any more questions you would like to have answered).
> 
> Also feel free to come check out my [Tumblr](https://eirlyssa.tumblr.com/) if you want to :)


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